Many organization employ, host, and/or manage complex data centers. Most complex data centers are made up of many different types of components (e.g., server, cluster, storage, virtualization, and application components). Because of the complexity of many data centers, many organizations employ multiple administrators in multiple administrative roles. In some organizations, administrators in one administrative role may be responsible for administering one type of data-center component, while administrators in another administrative role may be responsible for administering another type of data-center component. For example, some organizations may employ server administrators tasked with administering server components, cluster administrators tasked with administering cluster components, storage administrators tasked with administering storage components, virtualization administrators tasked with administering virtualization components, and/or application administrators tasked with administering application components.
Many systems for administering data centers may be directed towards a single administrative role and may be tailored to administer a single type of data-center component. For example, some systems may be tailored towards administering server components, while other systems may be tailored towards administering cluster components. Unfortunately, organizations may need to deploy several of these systems to administer every aspect of their data centers. Moreover if a data-center administrator has multiple administrative roles, the data-center administrator may need to use several systems in order to perform his/her responsibilities.
Some systems for administering data centers attempt to cater to multiple administrative roles by enabling the administration of many types of data-center components via a single interface. Unfortunately, these systems may overload their users with too much information that is not relevant to the users' current responsibilities. Moreover, by attempting to cater to multiple administrative roles via a single interface, these systems often fail to keep in mind the political boundaries that often exist in data centers (e.g., the desires of administrators in one administrative role to limit what information is shared with administrators in other administrative roles). Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved systems and methods for administering complex computing systems such as data centers.